Viral Marketing Plans and How to Execute Them

When it comes to communicating creative marketing ideas, the Internet is an immediate and powerful platform. The trouble is, it’s also rather big! Just because you’ve got a website, it doesn’t mean anyone’s going to see it. Just because you’ve got a product, it doesn’t mean anyone’s going to buy it – unless you can go viral.

The Pot of Gold

'Going viral' is a marketers aim; it’s the pot of gold at the end of the commercial rainbow, the Holy Grail. It’s the moment you know you’ve arrived. While it doesn’t absolutely guarantee to propel your brand into the stratosphere, going viral does mean that your product, brand or service gets seen by a lot more people than you might otherwise have reached. But how do you achieve this forest-fire status? If it’s that desirable, how come everyone’s not doing it?

The answer is that they are; it’s just that they’re not all doing it right.

It’s the most creative brands that tend to be the ones who get to make a real Internet splash. While they might appear to be able to come up with endless ideas, it’s the ideas that somehow resonate with the public that are the ones that count. For every campaign that goes viral, there are sure to be a good few from the same bunch that never get to see the light of day.

Using Social Networking

There are a number of platforms that you can use to broadcast your creative marketing ideas, but the big ones right now are Vine, Pinterest and Instagram. What these three have in common is the ability to share. They’re social networking sites and if someone likes your content, then they can pass it on. Some of the best viral videos are funny ones, but that doesn’t mean you need to pull out your clown-nose. Think about what you offer and who you offer it to. Both Next and Honda created viral videos that approached their product from different angles.

Next Now

The Next campaign was very simple, yet very effective. Using Vine, they created a six-second stop-motion video of cushions and fabrics tumbling around on a Next magazine. This was accompanied by the strap-line, “bringing to life the cosy textiles featured in our current home ad campaign.” The camera finished on the magazine, showing how the animated fabrics would look in a domestic setting.

The Honda Campaign

Honda decided to go a step further and fully engage with their audience, through Twitter. They encouraged users to use the hashtag #WantNewCar and explain why they wanted one. The best reasons were responded to with a personalized Vine video that had something to do with the Tweet it was replying to. The first day of the campaign brought over 1,000 followers to Honda’s doors and gained it almost 3,000 mentions. In addition, Honda got to chat with thousands of potential customers and plug their product at the same time.

If you’re thinking of trying to create a viral video, it’s worth checking out Vine, Pinterest and Instagram, where you’ll see examples of both how to do it – and how not to do it!

Unbound Media is about the strategies, tools and tactics that connect the Unbound Audience with Unbound Content. Through research, experience sharing and inspiration, this blog is designed to offer smart and innovative ideas to help you navigate a world where people and media are boundless.